Oct. 29, 1898. j 
POREST AND STREAM. 
Proprietors of fishing and hunting resorts will find it profitable 
to advertise them in Forest and Stream. 
American Saibling or Golden Trout* 
SalveUnus sunapee (Webker and Quackenros, 1S86); 
SalveUnus aureolus (BEAN, 188S): SalveUnus 
alpinus aureolus (Jordan, 1891). 
[From the Report of the New York Fisheries , Game and Forestry 
Commission.! 
In the summer of 1882 anglers first began to hear 
of the capture of a large, silvery, deep-water trout at 
Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire. For several years this 
fish was known as the St. John River trout, on the pre- 
sumption that it was descended from certain yearlings 
rumored to have been introduced into Sunapee from the 
St. John River, New Brunswick, in 1867, but which 
really came from Grand Lake, Maine, and were ouana- 
niche. The conspicuous development of the under jaw 
in the males led to the local names of "hawk-bill" and 
"hook-bill;" the silvery sides ci" the fish in summer gave 
rise to that of "white trout. " 
In October. 1885, George F. Peabody, now of Suna- 
pee, then a resident of the east shore, accidentally came 
upon a mid-lake spawning-bed, an acre or two in area, 
covered with hundreds of the new trout ranging from 
3 to iolbs. in weight. He promptly notified the 
Fish Commissioners of his find, and specimens were 
sent to Washington and Cambridge lor identification. 
They proved to be" representatives of a highly variable 
Alpine charr, distributed through the Dominion of Can- 
ada, Labrador, and Greenland, but whose presence in 
United States waters was unsuspected. 
This charr is now believed to be aboriginal to Lake 
Sunapee, as well as to Flood's Pond, in the town of Otis, 
near Ellsworth, Maine. The water of both these lakes 
is deep and exceptionally pure a;nl cold. Lake Suna- 
pee is a true ancient rock-basin, as shown by the natural 
granite dam at the outlet. It now discharges into the 
Connecticut River; but until the receding ice. of the last 
glacial epoch reached, in its sluggish melt toward the 
north, the lower valley of the Sugar River, the mighty 
inland sea of primeval times poured into the Merrimack 
over Newbury Summit, 60ft. higher than the level of 
the present effluent. Through the Merrimack watershed,, 
while the valley of the Sugar River was as yet choked 
with glacial ice, the quarternary trout, if of marine an- 
cestry, must have found their way into this mysterious 
lake, following, like man and the higher mammalia, but 
by watery channels, the retreating ice fields, and swarm- 
ing into the basin of Sunapee, excavated anew for their 
reception by the erosive power of the glacier, and filled 
with its melting snows. This epiarternary charr, or 
Alpine trout — represented in the saibling of the moun- 
tain lakes of Europe from Austria to Spitzbergen, in the 
Dolly Varden (Mahna) on both sides of Bering Sea, 
in the pigmy blue-back of Maine (Oquassa), and in the 
large anadromous or sea-run blue-back of Labrador — 
is believed to be the ancestral type from which our com- 
mon brook trout lias differentiated. It has simply found 
in Lake Sunapee and Flood's Pond conditions for its 
survival— in the purity of the water (Sunapee, one and 
three-tenths grains of solid matter to the gallon), in the 
depth of the water (both lakes over iooft.),' in 
the character of the bottom (white sand and gravel), 
in the temperature of the lower layers (Sunapee, 38" 
Fahr. to 52 0 Fahr., according to depth and season), and 
in the abundance of crustacean and fish food. 
The distinguishing features of the Sunapee charr are: 
The presence of a broad row of teeth on the hyoid bone, 
between the lower extremities of the first two gill arches; 
the absence of mottling on the dark sea-green back and 
excessively developed fins; inconspicuous yellow spots, 
without blue areola; a square or slightly emarginate tail; 
a small and delicately shaped head, diminutive aristo- 
cratic mouth, liquid planetary eyes, and a generally 
graceful build; a phenomenally brilliant nuptial colora- 
tion, recalling the foreign appellations of "blood-red 
charr," "gilt charr," and "golden saibling." As the 
October pairing time approaches, the Sunapee fish be- 
comes illuminated with the flushes of maturing passion. 
The steel-green mantle of the back and shoulders now 
seems to dissolve into a veil of amethyst, through which 
the daffodil spots of mid-summer gleam out in points of 
flame, while below the lateral line all is dazzling orange. 
The fins catch the hue of the adjacent parts, and pectoral, 
ventral, anal, and lower lobe of caudal, are marked with 
a lustrous white band. It is a unique experience to 
watch this American saibling spawning on the Sunapee 
shallows. Here, in all the magnificence of their nuptial 
decoration flash schools of painted beauties, circling 
in proud -sweeps about the submerged boulders they 
would select as the scenes of their loves — the poetry of 
an epithalamion in every motion — in one direction, un- 
covering to the sunbeams in amorous leaps their golden 
tinctured sides, gemmed with the fire of rubies; in an- 
other, darting in little companies, the penciled margins 
of their fins seeming to trail behind them like white rilv 
bons under the ripples. There are conspicuous differ- 
ences in intensity of general coloration, and the gaudy 
dyes of the milter are tempered in the spawner to a 
dead-luster cadmium cream or olive chrome, with opal 
spots, The wedding garment nature has given to this 
charr is unparagoned. Those who have seen the bridal 
march of the glistering hordes, in all their glory of color 
and majesty of action, pronounce it a spectacle never to 
be forgotten. That so conspicuous a game and food 
fish could have been aboriginal to Lake Sunapee, and for 
one hundred years have escaped the notice alike of visit- 
ing and resident anglers, persistent poachers, and alert 
scientists, is accounted for: 
First, by its habits, which protected it from observa- 
tion and: persecution. The white trout rarely approached 
the~surface, except during the last week of October and 
the "first week in November, when it appeared on the 
mid-lake reefs to spawn — a time of year when angling is 
out of season, and in localities dangerous or impossible 
of access in the old style, unseaworthy flat-bottoms dur- 
ing, the autumnal wind-storms. The secluded habits of 
the European charrs explain in like manner the obscur- 
ity which has so long involved the life history of those 
fishes. Moreover, ordinary fishermen recognized no 
difference between the white and the brook trout, a 
thing not to be wondered at when ichthyologists failed 
at first to separate the forms. 
Secondly, by the continuous exposure of the species 
to the ravages of the yellow perch and the miller's 
thumb. Before the introduction of black bass in 1868, 
both these enemies of trout were abundant in the lake 
and the connecting estuaries, and there being at that 
time no smelt food, subsisted largely on the eggs and fry 
Of the lake-spawning charr. At the. spring hatching sea- 
son the perch held carnival among the helpless alevins, 
almost effecting, by their periodic havoc, the extermina- 
tion of the white trout. But as the. black bass increased 
in number, they fell upon the perch in turn, until the 
lake was virtually rid of this voracious pest. Thus the 
saibling, which had been reduced to the. verge of anni- 
hilation, had a chance to multiply. The black bass do not 
interfere with it, for two reasons: 
First, both bass and trout have an abundance of easily 
caught and tasteful food in the land-locked smelts, which 
have increased since their introduction, until now they 
literally school in millions. 
Secondly, bass and trout are not found in the same sec- 
tions of water at the same time, the trout keeping in a 
temperature of 42" Fahr. to 50 0 Fahr. (on the surface 
in May, 60ft. below in July and August) ; the bass 
preferring 65 0 Fahr. to 70 0 Fahr. in summer, and hiber- 
nating in winter and during the spring hatching time 
of the trout. Thus freed from persecution on the part of 
the uraiiidea and the perca Americana, the saibling has 
increased, until it is now present in myriads. 
I have just received a most interesting confirmation of 
this theory — that the introduction of black bass into a 
trout lake may improve the trout fishing in that lake — 
from Mr. Arthur Merrill, of the Maine Inland Fisheries 
and Game Commission. Mr. Merrill writes from Mon- 
mouth, Maine, under date of Sept. 13, 1897: 
"The theory that the introduction of black bass 
changed the natural conditions in Lake Sunapee, so that 
the saib'ing had a chance to increase, seems to be sub- 
stantias (1 by well-known facts in the case of many Maine 
lakes, notably the Cobbosseecontee and Messalonshee 
chains, in Kennebec county. These lakes, twenty in 
number, with an area of 50,000 acres, formerly swarmed 
with trout; but the introduction of perch and pickerel 
so reduced the numbers of fontinalis that it was appar- 
ently exterminated. The introduction of black bass, 
however, has been followed by an unexpected increase 
in the number of trout, and now these lakes afford the 
best trout fishing obtainable in the settled area of the 
State. Lake Cobbosseecontee yielded over 500 brook 
trout this year, weighing from 2 to 7lbs. each, 
and the lake was not persistently fished, as its resources 
were known only to local fishermen." 
The Sunapee saibling takes live bait readily, prefer- 
ring a cast smelt in spring, when it pursues the spawn- 
ing osmrriis to the shores. As far as is known, it does 
not rise to the fly either at this season, or when on the 
shoals in autumn. Through the summer months it is 
angled for with a live minnow or smelt, in 60 to 
70ft. of water, over a cold bottom, in localities that 
have been baited. While the smelt are inshore, trolling 
with a light fly-rod and fine tackle, either with a Skin- 
ner's fluted spoon, No. 1, or a small smelt on single 
hook, will sometimes yield superb sport, as the game 
qualities of the white trout are estimated to be double 
those of the fontinalis. The most exhilarating amuse- 
ment to be had with this charr, after the first hot June 
days, is in trolling from a sailboat with a greenheart 
tarpon rod, 300ft. of copper wire of the smallest caliber 
on a heavy tarpon reel, and attached to this a 6ft. 
braided leader with a BuelFs spinner, or a live minnow 
on a stiff gang. The weight of the wire sinks the bait 
to the requisite depth. When the sailboat is running 
across the wind at the maximum of her speed, the sen- 
sation experienced by the strike of a 4 qi* 5lb. fish bank- 
rupts all description. A strong line under such a tension 
would part on the instant; but the ductility of the wire 
averts this accident, and the man at the reel end of the 
rod experiences a characteristic "give," quickly followed 
by the dead-weight strain of the frenzied salmonoid. To 
land a fish thus struck implies much greater patience 
and skill than a successful battle, under similar circum- 
stances, with a 50Z. six-strip and delicate tackle. The 
pleasure is largely concentrated in the strike, and the 
perception of a big fish "fast." The watchfulness and 
labor involved in the subsequent struggle border closely 
on the confines of pain. The ductile wire is an essen- 
tially different means from a taut silk line. The fish 
holds the coign of vantage; when he stands back and 
with bulldog pertinacity wrenches savagely at the pliable 
metal — when he rises to the surface in a despairing leap 
for his life — the angler is at his mercy. But, brother of 
the sleave-silk and tinsel, when at last you gaze upon 
your captive lying asphyxiated on the surface, a syn- 
thesis of qualities that make a perfect fish — when you 
disengage him from the meshes of the net, and place 
his icy figure in your outstretched palms, and watch the 
tropaeolin glow of his awakening loves soften into cream 
tints, and the cream tints pale into the pearl of moon- 
stone, as the muscles of respiration grow feebler and 
more irregular in their contraction — you will experience 
a peculiar thrill that the capture neither of ouananiche, 
nor fontinalis, nor namaycush can ever excite. It is this 
after-glow of pleasure, this delight of contemplation 
and speculation, of which the scientific angler never 
wearies, that lends a charm all its own to the pursuit of 
the Alpine trout. 
Finally there can be no doubt as to the economic 
value of the American saibling. It is one of the most 
prolific of our salmonoids, the female averaging 1,200 
egs to the pound, and casting spawn when only 2oz. in 
weight. It is also a singularly rapid grower where smelt 
food abounds. The extreme weight proved to have been 
attained is about r2lbs., although accounts exist of much 
larger specimens weighing from 15 to 2olbs. As a 
rule, the greater the altitude, the smaller the fish, but 
the more intense their coloration. In some of the 
higher Swiss lakes the saibling run eight or nine to the 
pound. This charr is exceptionally hardy and easy to 
propagate. The eggs bear transportation over the 
roughest roads without injury. Superintendent Race, of 
the Green Lake Station, Maine, claims that in the 
percentage of eggs fertilized and fry hatched the saib- 
ling takes precedence of all congeners. As far as is 
known, however, it does uot breed in confinement, nor 
under such circumstances affects a brilliant nuptial colo- 
ration. Ripe fish at Lake Sunapee can not be transferred 
to the State tanks, one mile from the spawning beds, 
without a long and serious delay in their sexual pro- 
cedures. Instances occur in which females refuse to 
part with their eggs and carry them over to the next 
season. Adult saibling have been kept for three years in 
a cold spring at Holderness; but even when placed 
among spawning brook trout they remained passionless, 
manifesting no perceptible sexual appetite. At death 
the reproductive organs of these fish were found conspic- 
uously atrophied. 
In regard to the hardiness of the saibling, Mr. Merrill 
states: "At Green Lake the temperature of the water 
runs high in spring, and much loss has been occasioned 
thereby among the brook trout fry, but the saibling have 
in such cases remained perfectljr healthy. My experience 
in rearing this fish has been extremely satisfactory, and 
I believe it to be one of the best subjects for the fish- 
culturist among our sahnonidse, especially where the fry 
are reared to the yearling stage, as is generally done in 
Maine. The eggs that I received last winter hatched 
well, and the fry, in the early stages of development, 
displayed wonderful hardiness under the most trying 
circumstances. 
"The brook trout, during the spring, suffered from 
warm water, the temperature rising to 65" F. soon after 
they hatched. The loss was considerable, but the 
saibling fry were not affected by this high temperature. 
It would seem that at the time the saibling is hatching 
on the shoals, and is exposed to great variations of 
temperature, nature has rendered the fry immune. My 
young saibling are persistent hiders; any crevice in the 
bank or lump of clay on the bottom affords a hiding 
place. When fed, they will emerge and rise for their 
food, but will immediately hide again. Trout fed in 
similar ponds do not at any time hide, but school to- 
gether, generally at the head of the pond. In feeding, 
the saibiiug remain near the bottom, darting up after 
thcir food and going back quickly. They are much 
cleaner feeders than either trout or salmon, picking up 
all the food that sinks, allowing none to waste. Although 
they will hide when opportunity offers, the young saib- 
ling are much tamer than trout or salmon, approaching 
more closely the person feeding them, and when in the 
troughs allowing themselves to be picked up with but 
little, effort to escape. The adult saibling that I carried 
to the Lake Auburn hatchery from Flood's Pond last 
November have fed well in the stock ponds and have 
made a rapid growth. As in the case of my experience 
with the young fish, they grew very tame, and were 
the favorites to feed for the entertainment of visitors. 
Several were exhibited at the Maine State Fair this 
month, and have endured without appreciable injury the 
•ordeal of river water and close confinement in a glass 
aquarium. 
"In consideration of the experience which I have had 
with the American saibling, I would select it in prefer- 
ence to any other fish if I desired a salmonoid to rear 
from the fry, and obtain the best results in size and 
percentage matured." 
I most heartily sustain Mr. Merrill in everything he 
says regarding the desirability of this charr, and con- 
fidently recommend it to the attention of State and na- 
tional commissioners, who are presumably interested in 
placing a valuable and easily propagated food and game 
fish within reach of the American people. It is facile 
princeps, from its rush at the cast smelt to the finish at 
the breakfast table. 
John Duncan Quackenp.os. 
Columbia Univeksitv, New York, 
Angling for the Namaycttsh. 
Whether the namaycush, or lake trout, as he is com- 
monly known, does Or does not, when hungry, sometimes 
snap up one of his own species for food, he is a highly 
respectable fish, cleanly, trim, fair to look at and a 
happy addition to the feast. He is at home in the crystal 
waters of our Northern lakes — sweet water lakes lying 
in the picturesque basins of forest-clad hills — and when 
transplanted to weedy, muddy ponds he refuses to 
multiply, and eventually disappears. 
After the spring migrations and spawnings of the 
various tribes that populate the lakes are over, and the 
waters become warmer, he settles into the deepest places. 
There he finds his favorite food, a delicate, silvery smelt, 
a fish seldom seen except when brought up from deep 
Avater in the maw of the trout. As a game fish he is 
inferior to the black bass, but it is a mistaken, although 
somewhat, prevalent, idea that he is ngt a vigorous 
fighter, as when properly angled for he is an antagonist 
worthy the skill and patience of the best sportsman. 
No doubt one reason why his fighting qualities are 
underestimated is that he is badly treated by many 
anglers. For instance, a common way of taking him is 
by attaching a huge block of lead to the line and drag- 
ging it on the bottom. What fair-minded sportsman 
would expect a trout to make a fight when every move- 
ment is checked and stopped by a pound or more of 
lead dangling on the line? 
Another lure is the large "spoon" armed with three 
savage hooks, set back to back. When his mouth is once, 
crammed with those three hooks it cannot be closed, and 
by the time the long trolling line is reeled in he is near- 
ly drowned. What chance for a run or a leap? 
Still another— and this one the unfairest and most 
unsportsmanlike device — is the "gang," usually con- 
structed of nine hooks set in fearful array, baited, and 
used at the end of a trolling' line. The trout snap- 
ping at the whirling bait will usually get half a dozen 
of the hooks in his mouth, and then he is expected to 
be fierce and display strength and agility for the gratifi- 
cation of the man using such an instrument of tor- 
ture, 
But if one really wishes to test the real character of 
the lake trout as a game fish, let him take a light rod, a 
reel holding 100yds. of the best fine silk line, lengthened 
